Two important bits of news that came out today were the announcement of Janet Yellen’s confirmation as head of the Federal Reserve, and the official announcement that Charlie Strong will be the new head football coach at the University of Texas at Austin.

I expect to see much more analysis, speculation, and navel-gazing about Strong than about Yellen in the coming days/weeks/decades, and let’s be honest, people are likely to perceive that story as having the greater cultural—maybe even financial—impact. With a rumored $5 million annual salary, Strong will probably be paid about as much as the entire School of Engineering. Meanwhile, the doings of the Federal Reserve are of little interest to anyone except libertarians and conspiracy theorists (but I repeat myself.) Did I just rip on libertarians, our great national obsession with the bread and circuses of competitive sports, or some combination thereof? History will decide, maybe.

Photo credit: Alvimann from morguefile.com.